The Indian Panorama

Tag: Bharatiya Kisan Union

  • Farm unions say agitation to continue, announce march to Delhi on April 21

    Farm unions say agitation to continue, announce march to Delhi on April 21

    Farmer unions in Punjab have announced a march towards Delhi on April 21, indicating that the over four-month-long protest is not going to end soon. They said that farmers, activists and women protesters will begin a massive march toward Delhi on April 21. Farmer leaders made the announcement at a Baisakhi Conference called by Bharatiya Kisan Union (Ekta Ugrahan) in Talwandi Sabo of Bathinda. The conference was organised to pay tribute to Jallianwala Bagh martyrs and to mark ‘Khalsa Sajna Diwas’. It was attended by thousands of farmers. The Baisakhi Conference was held at 38 other spots in the state as well in protest against the controversial farm laws. BKU (Ekta Ugrahan) state president Joginder Singh Ugrahan said that the April 21 Delhi march would be led by the union’s state general secretary Sukhdev Singh Kokrikalan and state treasurer Jhanda Singh Jehtuke. He said that the farmers’ protest will continue till they get their rights.

    Citing the example of India’s fight against Britishers, he said that after the Jallianwala Bagh massacre, people fought unitedly rising above caste, creed, religion and the fight against the Narendra Modi government will also be fought unitedly by the farmers, labourers, women and other countrymen.Ugrahan also said that another massive march towards Parliament will be undertaken in May.

    SKM leader Balbir Singh Rajewal said that the protest movement started by the farmers of Punjab had now turned into a nationwide mass movement and people from across the country are supporting it.

    Thousands of farmers have been camping at Delhi’s Singhu, Tikri and Ghazipur border in protest against the newly enacted three farm laws.

    There had been 11 rounds of talks between the Centre and the farmer unions but it did not yield a result. The farmers are demanding a rollback of the three laws while the government is proposing to amend the clauses with which farmers have an issue.

  • Farmers ready to protest till Modi govt lasts, says Narendra Tikait

    Farmers ready to protest till Modi govt lasts, says Narendra Tikait

    New Delhi (TIP): Farmers are ready to continue protests on the borders of Delhi, against the three agricultural laws, for the remaining three and half years of the Narendra Modi government’s second term, said farmer leader Narendra Tikait. The protests cannot be “culled” he said. The farmers’ protest has been continuing for more than 100 days. Narendra Tikait does not hold any official position in the Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU), formed by his father, Mahendra Singh Tikait, in 1986. He mostly focuses on the family’s farming activities but is as vocal on farmers’ issues as his two elder brothers, Naresh and Rakesh Tikait, who are leading from the front.

    Speaking to news agency PTI, at his home in Muzaffarnagar’s Sisauli,  the 45-year-old farmer also said his two brothers and the entire Tikait family would leave the protest if any wrongdoing is proved against a single family member. Narendra Tikait rejected allegations of making money from the agitation.

    The eldest brother, Naresh Tikait is the BKU president, while Rakesh Tikait holds the position of national spokesperson of the organisation. BKU under Mahendra Singh Tikait’s leadership in 1988 had laid a virtual siege of Meerut demanding higher prices for sugarcane, cancellation of loans and lowering of water and electricity rates. The same year, BKU held a week-long protest in Delhi’s Boat Club to focus on the plight of farmers.

    After Mahendra Singh Tikait’s death in 2011, Naresh and Rakesh Tikait have been leading the BKU in various roles, though a number of factions have emerged in various parts of the country over the years.

    Narendra Tikait said the Centre thinks that it can “cull” the farmers’ protest like it has “culled” other agitations in the past using various tactics. “I am here in Sisauli but my eyes are on the protest,” he said, adding that he keeps visiting Ghazipur border where hundreds of farmers and BKU supporters are camping since November 2020.

    “This government has a misconception, probably because it never faced such kind of protest, but we have seen agitations and been part of those for 35 years. This government only has an experience of facing smaller protests and of getting those culled through various tactics,” Mr Tikait said. “They cannot crush this protest by any means. This will continue for as long as our demands are not met. This government has a tenure of three and a half years left, and we can continue the movement till the end of its term,” he said.

    “If the government keeps saying again and again that crops would be bought at MSP, then why cannot they give this in writing? They keep harping about giving subsidies on LPG cylinders, but that subsidy is also gone,” he said. Mr Tikait alleged that the Centre has done the same to the school education sector where private institutes are thriving and minting money while the condition of government facilities are suffering.

  • ‘If tractors are stopped, remove barricades’: Farmer leader Rakesh Tikait

    ‘If tractors are stopped, remove barricades’: Farmer leader Rakesh Tikait

    New Delhi (TIP): If the tractors are stopped, the farmers should have the strength to break barricades, Bharatiya Kisan Union leader Rakesh Tikait told the cultivators marching to join the agitation in Delhi. “If you get information that there are barricades in the city then you should get enough strength to remove them,” Tikait said addressing Kisan Mahapanchayat in Nagaur district on Wednesday. “Tractor is the tank of the farmers and farmer movements are run on cars,” he added. Thousands of protesting farmers, mostly from Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, have been waiting at Delhi’s borders for almost three months, demanding the repeal of the three central farm laws. The government claims that these are part of the long-pending reforms in the agriculture sector. The farmers, however, complain that it will put them at the mercy of corporates. Talks with the government broke down on January 22. During a tractor rally on January 26, a section of the farmers broke off from the rally route and engaged in violent clashes with the police. Tikait’s mantra for farmers included 1 village, 1 tractor, 15 men and 10 days, adding another 15 are to replace the first 15 on rotational basis.

    “If these farm laws are enforced then the foodgrains will be locked in godowns of the traders and big companies and the price of foodgrains will be decided on the basis of hunger,” he said.

    He said that the farmer movement has not ended. “There are 15,000 tractors at Tikri border and farmers have put up huts under trees,” he said.

    The government has maintaiend that the offer for talks is still open. The farmers, however, are insistent on repeal of the farm laws and also a guarantee on minium support prices or MSP for their produce.

  • Farmers not going home, will head to Kolkata soon: Rakesh Tikait

    Farmers not going home, will head to Kolkata soon: Rakesh Tikait

    ‘Will harvest crops and continue our agitation at the same time’

     HISSAR, HARYANA (TIP): Asserting that farmers sitting on the Delhi borders will not go back to their homes till the farm laws are repealed, Bharatiya Kisan Union leader Rakesh Tikait on Thursday, Feb 18, said “our next target is to reach Kolkata on tractors”. “We are out to change the scenario of the country. We need one month to correct the powers-that-be. We will not return until course correction of the ruling party. Farmers of Bengal are also in crisis and we will have to fight for them as well,” Tikait said addressing a “mahapanchayat” at Kharak Poonia village of Hisar.

    The new agriculture laws will ruin the economy of the small, marginal as well as big farmers, he said, adding that the private firms will take control of the fields in the guise of contract farming.

    Tikait said the government should not be under the impression that the movement against the laws will end as farmers will go to their villages to harvest their crop.

    “Even if you have to set your standing crop on fire, you should be prepared for it. The government should not harbor this impression that farmers will return home. We will harvest crops and continue our agitation at the same time,” he said addressing a “mahapanchayat” at Kharak Poonia village of Hisar.

    “There will be no ‘ghar wapsi’ till then,” he said. Tikait also asked farmers to be ready for the next call of the unions spearheading the stir. “Keep your tractors filled with fuel and facing towards Delhi’s direction. You can get a call to move at any time, that will be decided by the committee (farmers unions),” he said.Tikait said after Haryana, they will be holding panchayats in other parts of the country, including West Bengal, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat.While earlier farmers had given a call for a “tractor rally” in Delhi, Tikait said the next time, they will go to the national capital with their agricultural implements.

    Addressing the gathering, Haryana BKU chief Gurnam Singh Chaduni alleged, “If new agricultural laws are implemented, crops will be purchased at arbitrary prices and farmers will be forced to even sell their land.”

    Thousands of farmers have been protesting since late November at the Delhi borders with Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, demanding a rollback of the Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020; Farmers’ (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020; and Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020.

    The protesting farmers have expressed apprehension that these laws will pave the way for the dismantling of the minimum support price (MSP) system, leaving them at the “mercy” of big corporations.

    However, the government has maintained that the new laws will bring better opportunities to farmers and introduce new technologies in agriculture.

    (Withinputs from TNS and PTI)

  • What’s the problem if foreign celebrities support farmer stir; don’t know Rihanna, Greta: Tikait

    What’s the problem if foreign celebrities support farmer stir; don’t know Rihanna, Greta: Tikait

    Ghaziabad (TIP): For all the global uproar the farmers’ movement against the new agri laws has caused, the man at its centre seems oblivious of the celebrity support he has been getting. Rakesh Tikait, the 51-year-old Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader from the hinterlands of Muzaffarnagar in western Uttar Pradesh, welcomed the support from international artistes and activists, including Rihanna and Greta Thunberg, but acknowledged that he did not know them. Talking to the media at Ghazipur on the Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border on Thursday, Tikait, who is credited with reviving the agitation that appeared to be flagging after the January 26 violence in Delhi, sought to know who these people were. “Who are these foreign artistes?” Tikait said showing unawareness when asked about the foreigners supporting the farmers’ movement.

    When informed about American pop-singer Rihanna, adult star Mia Khalifa and Swedish teen climate activist Greta Thunberg, the Sisauli-born Tikait responded: “They may have supported us, but I don’t know them.”

    “If some foreigner is supporting the movement, then what is the problem. They are not giving us or taking anything away from us,” he said. Commenting on the futile attempt by 15 members of Parliament to reach Ghazipur and meet protesters on Thursday, the BKU national spokesperson said the MPs should have sat on the ground on the other side of the barricades where they were stopped by Delhi Police.

    “A barricading has been set up here. They had to come, but they should have sat down there itself. They would have been on the other side and we on this side (of the barricade),” he said.

    Tikait said he did not have any talk with the 15 MPs who had tried to come to Ghazipur to meet the protesters. They were also not allowed to speak to the protesters, he added.

    The 15 MPs from 10 Opposition parties, including the SAD, the DMK, the NCP and the Trinamool Congress, wanted to meet the protesters at Ghazipur. Members of the National Conference, the RSP and the IUML were also part of the delegation. MP and Shiromani Akali Dal leader Harsimrat Kaur Badal, who coordinated the visit, said the leaders were not allowed to cross the barricades and reach the protest site, where thousands of farmers are camping since November with a demand that the government repeal the new agri-marketing laws enacted last September.

    The farmers’ protest at Ghazipur, Tikri and Singhu at Delhi borders has now attained global spotlight with prominent international celebrities and rights activists talking about the stir. In its pushback, the government said the facts on the issue must be ascertained before rushing to comment on it, and asserted that the “temptation” of sensationalist social media hashtags and views is “neither accurate nor responsible”.

    Will not enter Delhi, say farmers as police prepare for Feb 6 chakka jam

    Farm unions agitating against three agriculture laws announced on Thursday that no protester will enter Delhi during a three-hour nationwide highway blockade on February 6 in a bid to avoid a repeat of the clashes and violence witnesses on Republic Day. Farmers in Punjab and Haryana drummed up support for the chakka jam, scheduled between 12pm and 3pm on Saturday, held village-level meetings and deputed special security volunteers to avert any clashes with security forces.

    In Delhi, Union home minister Amit Shah met national security adviser Ajit Doval and Delhi Police commissioner S N Shrivastava inside the Parliament complex to review the security situation. The Centre had already conveyed to Delhi Police that additional central paramilitary forces are on standby if required. Currently over 60 companies (6,000 personnel) of central paramilitary forces are assisting Delhi Police at the borders.

    Farm leaders said cultivators camping at Singhu, Tikri, and Ghazipur borders, and those who will join them by Friday, will carry out the chakka jam at their respective venues.

                    (Source: PTI/HT)

  • After Tikait’s emotional appeal, farmers swell at Delhi borders

    After Tikait’s emotional appeal, farmers swell at Delhi borders

    New Delhi/Meerut (TIP): Thousands of farmers poured into Ghazipur on the eastern fringes of Delhi on Friday, January 29,  after an emotional appeal for support by farm leader Rakesh Tikait, indicating that the government crackdown on the two-month-old agitation following violence on Republic Day may have partially backfired.

    Farmers from 10 districts in western UP, a stronghold of the influential Jat community, congregated at a massive gathering in Muzaffarnagar, where they announced the social boycott of anyone not backing the movement. In Haryana, khaps, or clan-based bodies, vowed to send at least one person from each family to bolster the ongoing stir against three agriculture laws passed in September.

    Throughout the night, cultivators took tractors, trucks and motorbikes to reach the Delhi border, where numbers swelled and morale mounted with the arrival of a new contingent of protesters determined to defend the honour of Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader Tikait. While just about a thousand farmers had gathered at Ghazipur on Thursday, the number swelled around 10,000 on Friday.

    “If the police use force on us for not leaving, it is not a problem. But if some political organisations attempt to trouble us, that is unacceptable…Now, I will not surrender (to the police), we’ll continue to protest here,” Tikait told the gathering. It was a dramatic reversal from Thursday afternoon, when dwindling numbers, bitter public fallout of violence by farmers at the Republic Day tractor rally, and increasing police presence, left the protesters demoralised.

    The Ghaziabad administration served Tikait, son of legendary farm leader Mahendra Singh Tikait, with an ultimatum to vacate the site or face penal consequences, part of a wider crackdown on the agitation since January 26. Farmers also said that the authorities cut off their water and power supply to the site.

    But instead of caving in, Tikait broke down in front of television cameras and vowed to not leave the site until the government repealed the laws. “If the farm laws are not repealed, Rakesh Tikait will commit suicide,” he had said, biting back tears. These visuals were beamed on television channels and went viral on social media, triggering calls for mobilisation from temples, mosques and panchayats across western UP throughout the night. Tikait’s resolve to not drink water unless it was brought from his village in particular touched a chord with the people, who carried water in bottles and pouches from their homes in the heartland to the Capital’s edge.

    Prabhjeet Singh, a farmer from Muzaffarnagar who returned to Ghazipur a day after he left for his home, said, “We couldn’t leave him (Tikait) to battle it alone when he needed us the most”

    By morning, the agitation seemed to have regained some of the momentum it lost when on Republic Day, farmer groups broke through barricades, clashed violently with police, ran riot on the Capital’s streets, and stormed the Red Fort, hoisting the Nishan Sahib, the flag of the Sikhs, on its ramparts.

    The violence and vandalisation were widely condemned and sparked statements of remorse and anguish from farm groups across north India, even as unions leading the stir blamed fringe elements, a government “conspiracy”, and Punjabi actor Deep Sidhu for stoking passions.

    The improvement in morale was visible in the principal protest site at the Singhu border despite violence by a mob of around 200 people earlier in the day. The Samyukt Kisan Morcha, the umbrella body leading the stir, said farmers will hold a one-day hunger strike to mark Mahatma Gandhi’s death anniversary on January 30.

    “Today, we just saw farmers arriving in Ghazipur. In a couple of days, more protesters will arrive at Tikri, Singhu, and Shahjahanpur border from Haryana, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, and Rajasthan,” said Darshan Pal, president of Krantikari Kisan Union Punjab. Ghazipur is the smallest of the three protest sites — after Singhu and Tikri on the Capital’s northwestern and western borders respectively — where farmers have camped since November.

    But on Friday, it was the focal point of the agitation as politicians, journalists, ordinary people made a beeline to meet Tikait, and union leaders scrambled to put up more tents, and set up community kitchens for the incoming crowds. Delhi’s deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia met Tikait and extended unconditional support on behalf of chief minister Arvind Kejriwal. “It is in such tough times that one aandolankari (protesters) come to help other aandolankari (protesters),” Tikait responded. Other politicians to visit were Rashtriya Lok Dal leader Jayant Chaudhary, UP Congress chief Ajay Kumar Lallu, and Congress leader Deepinder Singh Hooda. Opposition politicians across the country also extended their support.   Source: HT